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Hideo Kojima Says Kojima Productions Would Fail by Copying His Work

Kojima predicts failure if his staff are told to make games as he does, but says his influence should inspire creators to make work of their own.
Length2 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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Hideo Kojima said Kojima Productions would not succeed if its staff were told to make games exactly as he does after his death. But he was not arguing that his influence should end: he wants creators to take inspiration from his work and make something of their own. The prediction is Kojima’s judgment, not a tested business forecast.

What did Kojima mean by “crush the baton”?

In a June 10, 2025 interview with British GQ, Sam White asked Kojima how he wanted to be remembered and whether he would pass the baton at Kojima Productions. Kojima replied: “I am not going to pass the baton to anyone. I will rather crush the baton… [Laughs.] I don’t need to give “Hideo Kojima” to anyone. If I pass the baton to my staff and tell them to make things the same way I do, the company will not succeed and will go out of business.”

He was rejecting the idea of passing his identity to employees as a creative template. The failure claim is conditional: he said the company would be in trouble if he instructed staff to reproduce his way of making games. He did not offer financial analysis or evidence establishing that outcome.

He wants creators inspired, not copied

Kojima distinguished imitation from influence. He said some people had told him they became creators because of his games, then described what they took from them: “They didn’t receive the baton of Hideo Kojima. They received my small fire. They’re not copying me. They’re not trying to be me. They have this fire, and they light up their own.”

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In that metaphor, his work can spark other people’s creativity without dictating what they make. His position is not that successors should ignore his influence; it is that they should develop their own creative voice rather than attempt to become him.

Why the interview raised succession

The conversation linked Kojima’s thoughts about time and unfinished work to his comments about a serious illness in 2020, eye problems that affected his ability to watch films and work, and fears about dying, dementia, and forgetting things as he aged. These are the concerns he described in the profile, not a medical diagnosis.

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Projects mentioned in the June 2025 profile

At the time of publication, GQ identified Death Stranding 2: On the Beach as Kojima’s latest project and discussed OD, his Xbox-partnered collaboration with Jordan Peele; Physint, described as Sony-exclusive; and an A24 Death Stranding film. Those references record what the profile discussed in June 2025; they do not establish the projects’ status today.

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